For the past 23 years the top pitcher and hitter within the Phillies Minor League organization has been honored with the Paul Owens Award, and for the seventh straight year, former BlueClaws sweep the laurels.

The Phillies announced on Wednesday that right-handed pitcher Kyle Drabek and outfielder Michael Taylor have won the awards for the 2009 season.

Kyle Drabek began the season with the Clearwater Threshers where he was 4-1 with a 2.48 ERA. After that successful stint in Florida, the former 18^th overall selection went to the Reading Phillies where he experienced similar success. With Reading, Drabek was 8-2 with a 3.64 ERA. This is his first full season since returning from Tommy John Surgery. Drabek was a BlueClaw in 2007 where he appeared 11 times for 54 innings. He was 5-1 in Lakewood with a 4.33 ERA. He represented Team USA in the Futures Game during the MLB All-Star festivities.

Michael Taylor began the season with the Reading Phillies and batted .333 with 15 home runs in 86 games. He was named to the Eastern League All-Star team and was a Home Run Derby participant. Taylor was then called up to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he hit .282 with five home runs in 30 games. On August 12^th, Taylor went 5-for-5 and hit for the cycle. A BlueClaw in 2008, Taylor hit .361 last season in 61 games in the first half before playing the remainder of the year in Clearwater.

The 2008 recipiants were Lou Marson and JA Happ.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm and is filed under Past BlueClaws. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.